Katy Perry Doesn’t Blame Exes in ‘Prism’ Songs

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gossip, Pop, New Releases,

Katy Perry won't hit out at her former lovers in her music.

The "Roar" hitmaker's third album, Prism, deals with her emotional state after her split from ex-husband Russell Brand in 2012, but she insists she tries not to make her former flames look like the bad guy in her tracks.

"Well, I never try to make people out to be villains, too much. There's a lot of empathy in my writing, even if there is pain and sadness. I think I'm not always trying to point the finger. I think on this record, the whole Prism record, it's very self-reflective and you hear that I've kind of gone inside more and looked at where I can make myself better, did a patchwork thing, rather than like 'Screw you. You're crazy. F**k you.'"

Katy - who is now dating John Mayer - still remembers the love she shared with former partners and wouldn't want to discredit it, but prefers to reflect on her own part in the failure of her relationships. "It's really easy when relationships end to be like 'That guy was a f***ing douchebag.' But really if you laid it down, and you saw the whole span of the relationship, you saw that you were in love. You saw the intimate moments, you saw the pain, you saw all the emotions and you have to kind of say 'Well, what responsibility can I take for myself in all of this?'" the 29 year-old said.

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Quote of the Day: Taylor Swift on Songwriting, Exes

Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Gossip, Rumors, Country, Pop, New Releases,

"I only write songs about crazy love. If I go on two dates with a guy and we don't click, I'm not writing a song about that. It didn't matter in the emotional grand scheme of things. There's a lot that goes on in daily life that isn't really worth turning into a verse and a chorus... I heard from the guy that most of Red is about. He was like, 'I just listened to the album, and that was a really bittersweet experience for me. It was like going through a photo album.' That was nice."

- Taylor Swift reveals that she doesn't write a song about every guy she hooks up with, which is what apparently most folks believed. (Shocker!)

(Make sure to check out our other notable quotes.)

Read More | People

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Bruno Mars Inspires Ellie Goulding

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Concerts / Tours, Performances, Pop, R&B / Soul,

For inspiration, Ellie Goulding looks to her pal Bruno Mars.

The "Starry Eyed" hitmaker has toured the US supporting the singer and says his live show has made her "up her game" and improve her own stage set to be more suitable for a bigger audience: "Bruno's show is phenomenal. It's the most incredible live show I've seen - that and Bjork, and it made me want to up my game. I read an article the other day that said I'd become Americanized, that I'd come from this shy English rose girl playing a guitar to being this big pop star... But you do adapt a bit to those bigger crowds and playing arenas. You can't just go out there and just say, 'Hiii.' You really do have to go out there and command."

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Pharrell Williams Obsessed with Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, R&B / Soul,

Pharrell Williams works like Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci.

The rapper-and-producer is "obsessed" with the work of the scientist and can see similarities between his own thought processes and that of the physicist and artist:

I'm obsessed with Einstein's process of tapping into the ether. He called it thought experiments and I was very surprised to see it was so similar to Leonardo da Vinci's process. It's like putting a candle on the floor and looking at the light flickering on the ceiling to zone out - which is a good description of what it's like when I make music. Often I'll go outside walking, which allows my mind to wander. It's the wandering that brings about good ideas for me."

As well as making music, Pharrell has been busy working on a sunglasses collection for Moncler and says he priorities "silhouette and functionality" in design. "These days, when it comes to design, I'm all about silhouette and functionality first. What's more important - the t-shirt or the label plastered across it? Just think about Rei Kawakubo [Commes des Garcons founder] - she's a genius. She proves you don't need to cover your designs in a label because the silhouette tells you exactly who made it," he explained to Grazia.

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Lady Gaga Feels Empty After Completing ‘ARTPOP’

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Concerts / Tours, Pop, New Releases,

Lady Gaga feels "empty" and "depressed" after finishing her album ARTPOP.

The "Applause" hitmaker has hit a low point since releasing her third studio album as she is no longer being creative. "I'm depressed after making this album. I feel empty and sad. I'm no longer the creator, I'm the performer. This is the reverse of Warhol, this is the reverse of the soup can, this is art imprinted onto pop culture," she said at a concert.

This comes only weeks after Gaga claimed she doesn't "feel alive" when she is not on stage as her stage persona gives her the chance to express her thoughts. "When I'm not on the stage, I don't feel alive. But when I hit the stage, it's like everything that I'm thinking and feeling, where I belong - that's where it is," she previously said.

But the 27-year-old eccentric star doesn't think she is different from anyone else, because most people have creative energy they want to release. "I don't think I am different from anybody else. I think everyone with their location and their job and what they do, their passion, feel the same way I do. It's sort of like we are endlessly obsessing about what we are creating and then the explosion is the moment where we get to share," she explained.

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Lady Gaga Pressured to Drop Princess Diana Song

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gossip, Rumors, Upcoming Releases, Dance, Pop,

Lady Gaga was pressured to drop a controversial song about Princess Diana from her new album.

The 27-year-old star had wanted "Princess Die" included on her third studio LP ARTPOP - which will released on Monday - but worried record company bosses at her label Streamline and parent firm Interscope urged her to axe the song fearing it may upset fans of the late Diana.

"Lady Gaga was passionate about Princess Diana and, though she admitted it wasn't her best work, she still wanted it on the album. But after the adverse reaction it got from fans in the UK when she sang it at her gigs last year, the record company bosses stepped in. They persuaded her to remove it from the album to keep the peace. There still is a lot of emotion over Princess Di. Her death remains a very sensitive subject," a source said.

Gaga performed the song, written in 2011, at a concert in Twickenham, London, last year and told a somewhat skeptical crowd that it was her way of paying homage to the beloved royal - the mother of Princes William and Harry who tragically died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

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MIA: I’m Madonna and Johnny Rotten

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Gossip, Alternative, Electronic, Hip-Hop & Rap,

M.I.A. believes she is a cross between Madonna and Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten.

The "Paper Planes" hitmaker - real name Mathangi Arulpragasam - says as an artist she is like the "Material Girl" singer as she can create all different types of music, but she has a rebellious side like punk rocker Rotten, real name John Lydon.

"People come up to me and say, 'Oh my God it's a thin line, you could either be Madonna or Jonny Rotten' ... I'm both, that's what it is," she said in an interview with UK station BBC Radio 1.

M.I.A. has previously collaborated with Madonna on the track "Give Me All Your Luvin" on her 2012 album MDNA. However, their relationship was soured when M.I.A. caused controversy by flipping her middle finger at a camera their performance at the Super Bowl XLVI NFL half-time show in February 2012, an action Madonna described as "negative" and "out of place."

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Taylor Swift’s New Songs to Set the Record Straight

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gossip, Rumors, Upcoming Releases, Country, Pop,

Taylor Swift wants to set the record straight about her love life in her new songs.

The country singer is back in the studio writing new tracks about her short-lived romance with One Direction womanizer Harry Styles and is determined to tell people "what really happened" between them.

"When I'm writing songs, it's the only opportunity for my fans to hear what really happened. I'm in control of my life!" she told The Daily Mail. Taylor is famed for putting her failed romances with the likes of John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal in song, and teen heartthrob Harry is also expected to get the break-up anthem treatment after their bitter split earlier this year.

The 23-year-old musician is heading back to Nashville, Tennessee, to pen tracks for her fifth album and is prepared for an intense period of intensive songwriting: "This is the time where I start to really go into the studio non-stop and spend all my time writing songs. I scour my brain for every possible metaphor and analogy I can use to describe my life and emotions."

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Lana Del Rey Struggles to Write New Album

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Upcoming Releases, Pop,

Lana Del Rey is struggling to write her new album.

The "Summertime Sadness" hitmaker is working on the follow-up to 2012's Born to Die album and admits that she never knows what to say when she's quizzed on her new work as she doesn't know what it will sound like yet. "When people ask me about it, I just have to be honest - I really don't know... I don't want to say, 'Yeah, definitely - the next one's better than this one,' because I don't really hear a next one. My muse is very fickle. She only comes to me sometimes, which is annoying," she told nylonmag.com.

Lana - real name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant - was catapulted to the spotlight following the success of her debut single "Video Games" in June 2011 and has since found it harder to source inspiration from the "outside world." She explained, "It's harder to be an observer when people are watching you. You have to go further inside because the outside world becomes a harder place to draw from."

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Katy Perry Was High Recording “California Gurls”

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Upcoming Releases, Pop,

Katy Perry was high when she recorded "California Gurls."

The singer was overcome by the weed smoked by her collaborator Snoop Dogg [currently going by the name Snoopzilla], when they recorded a rap in the middle section of the song, for her last album Teenage Dream.

"It was really cool. He came by the studio, played the song and rolled a J. Everybody was contact [passively] high. But he was super-cool and he's been around forever. It's really amazing if you meet someone that's been around for 20 to 25 years and they're still cool, because sometimes they aren't," Katy is quoted by The Sun newspaper as saying.

The first song Katy wrote for her latest album, Prism, was "By the Grace of God," which has a much darker tone, as it was inspired by Katy's breakup with ex-husband Russell Brand, and she admits she was in a bad way when she wrote it.

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